After a fortnight spent with V8 saloons from Jaguar and Bentley respectively, the next car booked in my road test calendar was decidedly smaller – the new generation Hyundai i20. Having been left very impressed by a short stint in the latest i10 last autumn, I was no less enthusiastic about spending a week with this much more attainable and modest car, even if the one delivered had a United Nations white paint job, which sold its very likeable design less well than some of the other available paints do.

Undertaking a road trip to the new generation i20’s spiritual home capital of Seoul would’ve been far more exciting than testing it in the Mancunian rain that hammered down the entire week, but it might’ve been tricky to twist the arm of Hyundai’s press office. I wouldn’t have been able to afford the fuel, accommodation or indeed food to satisfy my humungous appetite, and it would’ve meant crossing Russia, China and, erm, North Korea – so okay, I’m kind of glad I stayed local for the week.

The new i20 jostles for sales in a tough class that includes the ever-popular Fiesta, Corsa, Clio, Polo, Fabia, Yaris and C3. It may be a surprise to learn that if I had chosen to trek to South Korea in one, it actually wouldn’t have been an #epicfail. For starters, it’s cavernous inside. I like to crank a driver’s seat up pretty high, which usually means that, as a 5’ 10” bloke, my bushy hair rubs against a car’s roof. Sat in the Hyundai, the remaining headroom was still plentiful, so I could easily have worn my bowler hat if I’d remembered it (or even got one). Accommodating four adults inside a new i20 would be easy and the car proved comfortable on long journeys, all-round visibility standing out as another strong point.

The second nice surprise was the… you can read the rest of my full Hyundai i20 road test review by visiting the blog of Carrot Insurance, one of the clients I write for [open in a new window]